Antisemitic Website Back Online

TORONTO — A website in Canada that advocated mass killing of Jews is back online after being shut down.
“Filthy Jewish Terrorists,” operated by former York University student Salman An-Noor Hossain, reportedly is using a host in Switzerland. Its Canadian web provider had shut down the site in March.
York suspended him, and it’s believed he’s left Canada.
Hossain’s site, the subject of a five-month investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police, had called for direct terror attacks and said Jews should be “exterminated.” Last summer, the OPP said Hossain “wilfully promoted hatred and advocated genocide of the Jewish community,” and he was charged with five counts of hate crimes, but he skipped his court date.
In November, an Ontario court issued a warrant for Hossain’s arrest on Interpol, the international police agency.
Hossain posted a blog Dec. 21 identifying himself as the operator of the relaunched site. But reports say the new website is registered with generic information, making it impossible to locate him.

Doctor Sues Israel

TORONTO — A Palestinian gynecologist now living in Toronto who’s known for preaching reconciliation is suing Israel for the deaths of three daughters and a niece in the Gaza war in January 2009. Izzeldin Abuelaish, who has worked in Israeli hospitals and came to Canada with his surviving children after the war, told Ynet News that he didn’t want to file the lawsuit, but Israel’s refusal to recognize his loss and compensate him forced his hand. He said he told his lawyer to reach a settlement with the Israel Defence Forces, which admits it fired two shells into his Gaza home on Jan. 16, 2009, but refuses him compensation for what it calls an operation of war. Abuelaish, a University of Toronto medical professor, spoke at Beth Tzedec Congregation in November on the need for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel Critic Dies

TORONTO — A Jewish York University history professor who was an outspoken critic of Israel died unexpectedly of natural causes Dec. 25, the Globe and Mail reported. Last year, David Noble, 65, called Hillel an agent of a foreign government and urged York to ban the student group. He also dropped a lawsuit against Canadian Jewish Congress about a 2004 flyer he published that CJC said was antisemitic. The flyer said the board of York’s fundraising foundation was “biased by the presence and influence of staunch pro-Israel lobbyists, activists and fundraising agencies.” Noble also campaigned against  York’s former policy of closing on the High Holidays.

Arson Suspected

TORONTO — Police suspect an incendiary device thrown through a front window caused a fire that destroyed a well-known jewelry store early in the morning of Dec. 23. The Ontario Fire Marshal was looking at video surveillance recordings last week, but no arrests had been made in connection with the blaze at Harold the Jewellery Buyer on Bathurst Street. Located in a Jewish area, the store, owned by Harold Gerstel, sits kitty-corner to a rival store whose owner, a fellow congregant at a nearby shul, alleges a hitman was hired to kill him. One of Gerstel’s employees was charged in the alleged plot, but Gerstel has not been charged.